"I don't think they're listening to us": Vincent van der Voort issues rare praise for PDC Prize Money albeit with a caveat

The PDC announced earlier this week the largest prize pool increase in the history of darts. The prize money for nearly all tournaments will be significantly raised, with the biggest boost coming at the World Darts Championship, where an additional £5 million will be up for grabs. The new world champion will receive £1 million, double the amount awarded in previous years.

The increase in prize money was also discussed in the latest episode of the Darts Draait Door podcast. "Great, right?" says former professional darts player Vincent van der Voort. "This is fantastic news for the sport—it's a big step toward becoming more professional and improving everything around darts. You can actually earn a million pounds."

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Van der Voort continued, "A lot of people still don't take darts seriously, but when you see the prize money, there are many other sports that would love to have these kinds of earnings. The PDC deserves a lot of credit for that. They've really done an amazing job. When I joined the PDC, you got £75 for winning the first round. Now, the smallest tournament pays £1,250. Back then, the winner got £100,000, and now it's a million. If you perform well, you're going to make a lot of money."

Vincent van der Voort

'Bad for the Ranking'

Now that the winner of the World Darts Championship will receive £1 million, there are concerns about whether this could distort the balance compared to other tournaments. "There are always negative aspects," says Van der Voort. "By raising the World Championship prize money to a million pounds, you could win every TV tournament and still not earn as much as the World Championship prize. This is bad for your ranking. The World Championship is becoming so important that it determines your ranking. They should really work towards a points system, but I don't think they're listening to us."

The upcoming World Darts Championship will feature 128 players, and the Grand Slam of Darts will expand to 48 players in 2026. However, the qualification criteria for this expansion are still unknown. "It's a bit strange with the PDC," Van der Voort says. "They put everything online and let everyone speculate. You’d think they would discuss it upfront, so they can release everything together. But now, we have three or four questions already."

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